Roma were defeated 3-2 by BATE Borisov in their Champions League Group E clash at the Borisov Arena on Tuesday evening.
Rudi Garcia was given a rude awakening for his 100th game in charge of the Giallorossi as they were torn apart in a matter of minutes by a confident BATE side with an early goal from Ihar Stasevich stunning the visitors before Filip Mladenovic added a quick double.
Roma started the match positively and they could have taken the lead as early as the first minute, as Gervinho fired a stinging shot which sent goalkeeper Syarhey Chernik scrambling.
With only eight minutes on the clock, the home side then found themselves ahead, completely against the run of play. A quick break saw BATE send the ball into the middle of the box, with Stasevich on hand to beat Lucas Digne and nod into the back of the net.
Mladenovic then doubled the lead four minutes later, with Digne at fault once again as the full-back was caught out of position, allowing the Serbian to thunder towards goal and send a 35-yard strike past Wojciech Szczesny.
Radja Nainggolan had a chance to pull one back midway through the first half, though he saw his shot well saved by Chernik.
The Lupi’s night then became even worse in the 30th minute, as Mladenovic scored once more by slamming an effort of the underside of the crossbar for his second.
Substitute Iago Falque tried his best to spur Roma towards a comeback after he assisted Gervinho with a neat pass 20 minutes into the second half to make it 3-1.
BATE’s lead was then shortened once more after Vasileios Torosidis netted from close range. However, the visitors perhaps left it too little too late as they were unable to find the equalising goal in the remaining minutes.
The loss leaves Roma at the bottom of Group E with just a single point from their opening two games.
